Best Cynical Park Endorsement: Brentwood Village Kid's Zone

Parks are awesome, a reminder that yes, even in this society that fetishizes the individual beyond all measure, we can manage to share some things, once in a while. Parks are public spaces that ideally let any kid come in and play on shared equipment while allowing caregivers a chance to sit down and stare at their phones for a little while. In this era of public/private partnerships, though, these public spaces are sometimes privately funded, which seems like a good idea when there are never enough public funds for anything. And sometimes that means getting a park endorsed by a bail bonds company. Opened in 2002, Brentwood Village Kid’s Zone declares an endorsement from Cody Smith Bail Bond Services Inc., who donated the park’s sign. With the school-to-prison pipeline in full effect, we suppose advertising bail bonds to children makes some kind of business sense, and that gives us pause.